The head of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress, Li Zhanshu, will visit Russia next week, the official agency announced on Sunday, becoming the highest Communist Party politician to visit the country since the invasion. of Ukraine via Moscow.
Beijing and Moscow have grown closer in recent years, intensifying their relationship to counterbalance US hegemony.
Meanwhile, tensions between China and the West have risen as Beijing has refused to condemn Russian military action in Ukraine and denounced Western sanctions and arms sales to kyiv.
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China's third-highest official, Li Zhanshu, will visit Russia, Mongolia, Nepal and South Korea from Wednesday to September 17, according to the official Xinhua News Agency.
He will attend the Eastern Economic Forum which will be held for four days from Monday in the Russian city of Vladivostok, located in the far east of the country, according to the same source.
Li Zhanshu, 72, is expected to quit his post in the Communist Party at the Congress to be held in October.
This decisive meeting should allow President Xi Jinping to snatch an unprecedented third term at the head of China.
Xi Jinping has not left China since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic in early 2020.